A Triumph
by twuewuv
Summary: Sometimes, a triumph is quiet.


Sometimes, a triumph is _quiet._

It _can_ be loud, but - sometimes.

Sometimes.

* * *

To Victor, cafes are peaceful, and a source of inspiration.

The day shifts and ebbs. All kinds of people ghost in and out, quickly, quietly. Some stay for longer moments, but no one stays as long as Victor does.

Well actually - no one but Victor and him.

Victor doesn't know his name yet, but they both sit at opposite corners of this cafe, in perfect view of each other.

The man is always sketching, and whenever Victor enters the cafe and he's already here, Victor can only see an empty page. By how fast his hands fly across the page, it doesn't stay empty for long.

 _He_ wears headphones every day. The soft beat carries over the silent moments between songs of the playlist the cafe never changes.

So Victor writes and _he_ draws, and people may be in continuous movement around them, but they've never come too close to crossing each other.

Victor sometimes daydreams about it, because _he_ is a type of attractive that keeps Victor's attention. Victor imagines fingers intertwining, a slow and smiling kiss, just a moment in time that they're simply together in the world. Then Victor will glance up and realize it was actually a stare down, and suddenly they're making eye contact and Victor can't help but smile.

 _He_ always smiles back. But then _he_ always is the first to look down.

When that happens, Victor stops daydreaming, and continues his work.

 _His_ headphones, when Victor walks past him to exit the cafe, are _loud._

* * *

And then - a moment in time comes.

"Uh-uhm. Hi. I'm sorry. Can I sit here? My table is...uh, there's nowhere else to sit."

 _His_ eyes are brown. He's holding three sketchbooks and three pencils. His headphones are in, but Victor doesn't hear anything from them.

"Yes, of course." Victor pulls his belongings closer to his side of the table so that the other can spread out his own books. _He_ sighs a " _Thank you_ ," and gratefully drops his belongings on the surface.

The silence they share is of them figuring out their spacing, of Victor pulling his laptop closer and putting papers he doesn't need to the ground, of _him_ setting up one sketchbook and putting the others in his lap. The table is small, since the cafe is small, and it's funny that yesterday Victor was finding it to be a bit irritating, but today the size of the table is perfect.

"Thank you, again," _he_ says, and smiles, and doesn't look away.

Victor smiles as well, helplessly wide. "Anytime."

Though _his_ smile is small, his blush reaches from his cheeks to down his neck, and Victor's daydreams flash in his mind _._

"What's your name?" Victor asks.

"Yuuri." Yuuri holds his hand out to shake and Victor takes it.

" _Yuuri_ ," Victor says softly, and Yuuri looks startled and laughs.

Oh, _goodness_.

"Yes," Yuuri says, and his blush stretches to his ears. "And yours?"

Victor notices that their hands are still held together, but doesn't comment. "Victor. Very nice to meet you, Yuuri."

Yuuri's smile does something that Victor has felt before on his own face - something you can't believe you're seeing, but are utterly charmed by. Yuuri's smile only grows from that moment and he laughs again. "You as well, Victor." He slips his fingers from Victor's grasp and Victor smiles wide.

' _Oops_ ,' Victor's smile says. ' _So silly of me to hold your hand for that long_.'

Yuuri only glances up a final time then drags his focus to his sketchbook, leveling it up so that Victor can't see the page. Victor sighs quietly but focuses on his own project as well.

Yuuri's sketching becomes the ambiance to his writing, the _schwook schwook_ of pencil lines crossing against the page. The tempo pulls Victor in, and he keeps in time with it with the _clack clack_ of his keyboard typing.

Yuuri's headphones are still in his ear. But a silent moment comes between the space of two songs, and it's _quiet._

* * *

It's not the last time Yuuri comes to his table - even if Yuuri's original table is free.

After that one day, Yuuri sits with him every time they're at the cafe together. But after some weeks, Victor is honestly baffled about _why_.

Because Victor flirts with him - like a madman.

Victor can tell that sometimes, Yuuri is a bit overwhelmed, disbelieving, and - well, he just doesn't know how to handle it at times. Victor knows now that the blush can cover Yuuri's entire face, after Victor tries to feed him one of the delicious cafe pastries.

And so why does Yuuri come back? Victor knows he can be a bit overbearing, but well - here Yuuri is.

"What?" Yuuri asks, and Victor realizes he's been staring at him. A blush is already creeping back onto Yuuri's cheeks, although Victor hasn't done anything yet.

Victor lets himself stare a moment longer. Yuuri's hair is slicked back today. It's not the first time he's seen Yuuri's hair styled like this, but it is the first time since they've gotten to know each other. Since Victor's been allowed to stare.

"Yuuri, did you know - you're incredibly attractive."

The blush spreads across Yuuri's skin, and Victor holds his coffee tight, because there is a difference between flirting and public indecency.

"Ah," Yuuri says, and Victor waits. "Uh," Yuuri continues, and Victor smiles.

"Mmm," Victor adds, and Yuuri laughs like it's strangling him.

"Thank you," Yuuri says finally, and smiles up at Victor. "Uh, you're - uh."

"You don't have to," Victor says. "I didn't say it for you to compliment back. It's just true."

They're eyes stay locked as Yuuri's face slowly becomes completely red. Victor takes it in, his eyes glancing from each facial detail to the next, when Yuuri suddenly stands and starts collecting his things.

"Ah!" Victor stands too, frowning. "I'm sorry. I made you uncomfortable." He doesn't know why he stood, really. Yuuri only brought one sketchbook and everything is already in his hands. Victor's fingers twitch, wanting to reach out, but would that be too much, would that -

Yuuri reaches for Victor instead, and Victor's hand is in Yuuri's. Yuuri looks incredibly embarrassed, but Victor is just incredibly _confused_.

"You can - uhm." And Victor can see the moment it's too much for Yuuri, and time moves slowly as Yuuri's fingers leave Victor's hand to bolt out of the cafe.

Yuuri's out the door before Victor can get himself to move. His whole body seems to twitch, but he realizes then that Yuuri's probably already too far for Victor to catch. Victor's devastated, _actually devastated_ , before he notices that there's paper in the hand that Yuuri held.

Victor sits in his chair before taking a look at it, and - oh.

There's a phone number on the slip of paper.

Though his heartbeat is _loud,_ his mind is _quiet_ with possibilities.

* * *

The most incredible thing, so far, is that Yuuri _flirts back._

Not in an obvious way - it's in Yuuri's eyes, in the way he holds his body. Sometimes, Yuuri's head is tilted in _such a way_ , as his mouth is set in a smirk _just so_ , and then he spins away from Victor's hands and leaves him _wanting._

They spend time together outside of the cafe now, and on a night where they walk the park nearby with their faces towards the starry sky, Victor realizes that this - _this_ is a moment in time.

Victor realizes that he doesn't want it to end.

"I'll race you," Victor says, and Yuuri laughs. He looks over to Victor, smile still on his face.

"And where to, exactly?"

Victor turns to block Yuuri's path and swoops down so they're practically touching noses. Yuuri completely stops in his tracks, eyes wide, face pink.

"Wherever you want to go," Victor says quietly. The air fogs between their mouths and Victor can hear Yuuri's breath catch. Victor thinks the stars may be reflecting in Yuuri's eyes - they're sparkling, and he's never seen eyes this way before.

The world is _quiet_ for their first kiss.

* * *

Their fourteenth kiss, and fifteenth, _and on, and on,_ is heated, fast, and Victor is pretty sure they knocked over a lamp at some point.

They're at Yuuri's apartment, on his bed, naked. Victor's lips are on Yuuri's skin, his hands are grasping onto Yuuri's sides, his mind and body are on _Yuuri Yuuri Yuuri._

Victor's lips softly suck on Yuuri's lower lip and his teeth graze against them. Yuuri's lips will be red, just like his blush, and Victor finally gets to see it lead far down Yuuri's skin.

Victor follows the blush with his tongue and sucks at Yuuri's neck, collarbone and nipple as he goes down. Yuuri is gripping Victor's hair with one hand and skating his fingers down Victor's back with the other, gripping onto skin randomly as Victor overwhelms him with a suck or bite. Yuuri's moans are breathless and he keeps trying to bring Victor's head up so they can kiss, but Victor only moves steadfastly down.

He bites at Yuuri's junction of thigh and pelvis. Victor has to hold Yuuri's hips down when Yuuri bucks into the air. Yuuri's groan becomes high and he whimpers at the end of it, one hand still gripping for life in Victor's hair, and the other gripping the pillow behind him since he can't reach Victor's body anymore. Yuuri starts to repeat Victor's name, and Victor looks up to lock eyes and sees Yuuri staring, wide eyed, blushing with his entire body, and all Victor can think of doing is pushing him _harder._

Yuuri's dick is hard against his stomach and once Victor licks the tip of it, salt exploding on his tongue, Victor knows there will be bruises on Yuuri's hips by tomorrow.

Yuuri keeps twitching, bucking, tugging Victor's head close yet still somehow looking incredibly embarrassed above Victor.

Victor only smiles then sucks the entire head in his mouth. Yuuri slams his head back against his pillows and his entire body is shaking uncontrollably as Victor slowly slides down, down, laving his tongue against the soft skin in his mouth so he can slide easily. Yuuri's biting his own lips to keep from being too loud, but _Victor_ and _fuck_ is released suddenly and unbidden as Victor continues to tease up and down, sucking softly at the tip and tonguing at the skin.

Victor takes Yuuri's hand from his hair and lets Yuuri's fingers grip his fingers instead. They do so tightly, nails digging into Victor's knuckles as Victor sucks Yuuri down and begins a steady rhythm.

It's a cadence of _quiet_ and _loud_ , vibrations from Victor's throat as he moans making Yuuri's back arch in reaction. Yuuri's mouth is open now, moaning and gasping freely. His hand is shaking in Victor's and they both hold on tight through it all, until Victor tongues at the tip and sucks harder, until he slowly sucks down again, keeping his tongue pressed tightly against the underside, and until Yuuri's breath goes high then -

 _Loud, loud, loud -_

Yuuri's groan echoes inside Victor's mind, bounces against his skull and repeats even when it's over, even when Yuuri is gasping, spent, and Victor slowly slides his mouth off and gasps against Yuuri's hip.

" _Uh_ ," Yuuri groans, and Victor laughs against his hip even as he takes himself in his hand cause he's leaking and desperate. He groans into Yuuri's hip and Yuuri's head snaps up, and he starts in a rough voice, "Hey, wait, I want -"

But Victor grips Yuuri's leg in his hand and lifts it over his shoulder, then bites into the inside of Yuuri's thigh. Yuuri's response is immediate, head thrown back and body jerking, his moan cracking in the middle to an, "Ooh - f _uck,_ " and Victor comes, Yuuri's skin still between his teeth.

Victor slowly opens his mouth and licks Yuuri's skin softly. He crawls up and smiles tiredly down at Yuuri.

Yuuri leans up until he catches Victor's mouth with his own, and they kiss softly until they both drop against the pillows, legs intertwined.

* * *

On a random midnight, Yuuri is wrapped around Victor in bed as Victor stares at the ceiling above him.

Their curtains are open and the stars blink at the two of them peacefully. Victor softly rubs Yuuri's back and sighs deeply.

Into the quiet of the night, Victor whispers, "I love you."

He almost has a heart attack when a moment later, Yuuri's arms tighten around Victor's middle.

"Iluhfvyoo," is mumbled back against Victor's chest, and Victor chuckles as he face palms his eyes with his free hand. He kisses the top of Yuuri's head then drops his arm to the side.

So much for practicing.

He falls asleep.

* * *

A triumph _can_ be loud.

But sometimes, it's _quiet._

It's, " _What's your name?_ "

It's, " _You can - uhm._ "

It's finding a sketchbook, years later, filled with sketches of yourself. It's finally realizing why _he_ looked so embarrassed when you asked what _he_ was drawing.

It's a dedication in a book, _also_ years later, that simply reads -

 _We still don't have a destination for our race, but really all I wanted is for us to be running together._

 _That's why, though we technically haven't won, you're still my greatest triumph._

 _To,_

 _Yuuri!_


End file.
